Lifestyle company Osim has posted a 53 per cent profit drop for the first quarter on declining sales.

The retailer of massage chairs and other remedial devices, says sales fell 13 per cent quarter-on-quarter, blaming a lack of new products and a drop-off in mainland Chinese tourists into Hong Kong, a key market for the Singapore-listed company.

Total first quarter sales were S$150 million, and Osim profit $18 million

“This has been a challenging quarter where retail sales across the core countries has been
soft and there have been no new major Osim product launches,” the company said in its earnings statement.

“Despite these challenges, our dominant brand has enabled us to maintain a stable gross margin and highly cash generative business. We are continuing to invest for growth supported by a strong balance sheet.”

Osim has 560 retail stores and China remains its largest market, where it has 252 stores in 45 cities.

“Products including uInfinity Luxe, uDiva, uHip, uSqueez Air, uTrek and uShape Music have sustained our dominant position in the market. We have just launched a new massage chair uMagic in April with favourable response and will be introducing more innovative products this year.”

Osim also operates 233 GNC/Rich Life stores and 44 TWG Tea stores, with plans for 15 more this coming year.

“With the upcoming planned new product launches we remain positive about the outlook for
the remainder of the year.”